Millet cultivar GG102

Abstract

A novel millet cultivar, designated GG102, is disclosed. The invention relates to the seeds of millet cultivar GG102, to the plants of millet GG102 and to methods for producing a millet plant produced by crossing the cultivar GG102 with itself or another millet variety. The invention further relates to hybrid millet seeds and plants produced by crossing the cultivar GG102 with another millet cultivar.

Description

CROSS REFERENCES[0001]None.GOVERNMENT RIGHTS[0002]None.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]The present invention relates to a new and distinctive millet cultivar, designated GG102. The term “millet” is applied to various grassy crops whose seeds are harvested for human food or animal feed. Compared to other cereal grains, millets are generally suited to less fertile soils and poorer growing conditions, such as intense heat and low rainfall and require shorter growing seasons.[0004]The earliest recorded document about millet reports that it was a “holy plant” in China around 2800 BC. As an ancient staple of India, Egypt, and North Africa, millet was once dominant commodity; as wheat is today.[0005]Millet is generally considered a minor crop in the U.S. because it has lost a great deal of importance as a cereal crop in favor of other cereal crops such as wheat and rice. However, millet is becoming more important in the U.S. due to its advantages as a rotational or cover crop as well as i...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The present invention is a new millet cultivar called GG102 that has high yield potential, strong stalk, short maturity and can re-seed itself the following year. This invention relates to the seeds and plants of GG102, as well as methods for producing a millet plant by crossing GG102 with itself or another millet line. The invention also includes methods for producing a millet plant with specific, single gene traits by crossing GG102 with another millet genotype. The invention covers all plants produced using GG102 as a parent, including selfing, backcrosses, hybrid breeding and crosses to populations."

Problems solved by technology

Compared to other cereal grains, millets are generally suited to less fertile soils and poorer growing conditions, such as intense heat and low rainfall and require shorter growing seasons.

One or more of these nutrients may be limiting in the less fertile soils used by millet producers.

The complexity of inheritance influences choice of the breeding method.

Development of new cultivars is a time-consuming process that requires precise forward planning, efficient use of resources, and a minimum of changes in direction.

The cultivars which are developed are unpredictable.

This unpredictability is because the breeder's selection occurs in unique environments, with no control at the DNA level (using conventional breeding procedures), and with millions of different possible genetic combinations being generated.

A breeder of ordinary skill in the art cannot predict the final resulting lines he develops, except possibly in a very gross and general fashion.

This unpredictability results in the expenditure of large amounts of research monies to develop superior new millet cultivars.

The introduction of a new cultivar will incur additional costs to the seed producer, the grower, processor and consumer; for special advertising and marketing, altered seed and commercial production practices, and new product utilization.

Low yields of millets are generally attributed to lack of high yielding hybrids and to the fact that these crops are largely grown as rainfed crops.